A Salt Lake City pilot was a little worried when he tried to land in Page, Arizona early this morning and the landing gear on his twin engine Beechcraft Baron didn’t deploy.

None of the landing gear would work, said airport manager Rich Stehmeier.

“He tried a couple of times and it wouldn’t work,” Stehmeier said.

“So he made the decision to fly to St. George airport and give it a try here,” said Marc Mortensen, assistant to the city manager for St. George.

After arriving in Southern Utah the pilot put in a distress call to the tower. Fire and police units were called to help in case he was forced to make a belly landing.

“He tried two or three times here and the gear wouldn’t come down,” Strehmeier said. “He decided to try one more time and it finally worked.”

The pilot and three passengers were fine with no reported injuries, he said.

Stehmeier said the pilot chose to come to the local airport because of the longer runway — 9,300 feet compared to Page’s little more than 6,000 feet — and the facilities to allow him to fix the problem after landing as well as the area’s available first responders.